Caligula AD 37-41 Silver Denarius with Divus Augustus

Caligula AD 37-41 Silver Denarius with Divus Augustus

The Twelve Caesars

Laureate head of Caligula right/Radiate head of Augustus right

Rome

RCV1809, 18mm, 3.82g

A high grade example of this hard to find coin, good metal and little wear, overall an attractive example.

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Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus was the great grandson of both Augustus and Mark Antony. The youngest son of Germanicus and Agrippina Senior he acquired the name Caligula from the tiny military boots or caligae that he wore as a young child during his father’s campaigns in Germany.
Caligula’s youth saved him from purges which claimed his mother and elder brothers. In AD 32 he moved in with his great uncle the Emperor Tiberius. When Tiberius died childless he was proclaimed emperor in AD 37. Initially he showed promise however after an illness and under the influence of his grandmother Antonia he became increasingly deranged. The excesses and debaucheries of his reign are well documented. Famously he made his horse a consul.
Eventually a plot was formed by the praetorian guard who had him murdered in AD 41.
In contrast to Caligula the coinage minted during his reign was conservative in character with many types honouring his relatives both living and deceased.